In the ever growing age of digital media and nearly anyone can be a DJ with the right software and large enough music library where will music go? Reading an article relating tribal art to modern art and the Primitivism Revolution I found myself relating this to music as I read it. Music is something that continually builds upon itself as the genre progresses or there is a revitalization of a certain musical genre. The problem I have with and the problem the article focuses heavily on is the fact that artist in the Primitivism Revolution where not particularly concerned with the context of the "art" that inspired them. In fact what inspired them to make the art they made was not even art in the first place. It was only once western culture put it in an ethnographic museum that it then became art. This is the perspective that plagues most of the western perspective of art as being something for the sake of itself with no practical purpose to it like the pieces that began to fill many of the ethnographic museums in Europe. Many of these pieces in their original context where ceremonial mask or items that had a specific purpose and value to the indigenous people who created it. In relation to music when does this sort of influence go from influence to complete ignorance and disgrard from it's original or early conception. I remember seeing a Wrangler or possibly Faded Glory jeans commercial a couple of years ago where a Creedence Clear Water song was played in the background giving the message that you could be more American if you wore these jeans. The ironic thing about the commercial was that the song they played which if memory serves me right was "Fortunate Son" which in it's context doesn't need any further explination. Also it was Regan I believe who wanted to use Springsteen's "Born In the USA" for his campaign tour. There was also a song I heard recently which used a sample of an African tribes pre-battle ceremonial music as the MC layed lyrics about money and women over their cry's. The other day while sitting and watching the people go by during class changes at the university I attend I tried to count the number of people I saw passing who were listening to their mp3 players. I quickly found myself overwhelmed and unable to count them as they passed and began to wonder if the iPod Generation is forgetting how to listen. I will admit that I normally walk on campus plugged in directly to mine, but what a relief it is take a break from it and just walk across the university listening to the sounds of the people. Could the immediacy of music be one of the factors to this loss of context as it is so readily available it holds less value? I recently began to relisten to Dylan's Basement Tapes and find them to be some of the greatest recordings of Americana. He created a sense of timelessness in the recordings allowing them to sound as if they could have been recorded today or 30 years ago or somewhere in between. The influence of American culture past and present is so eloquently displayed in every note, pause, breath, and cough on the tracks. Howlin' Rain did an excellent job of this with their self titled release drawing influence from a wide range of music paying homage to it, but also creating something incredible on their own without being pretentious and forgetful. Well that's all I have to say now as I look and realize it's almost time for me to go to work, but I'm curious to see what the rest of you have to say. Do you think that it's alright for musicians to be influenced by music and disregard the context of the music they are influenced by as it's channeled through their own creations? Do you think we are forgetting how to listen to not only music but each other as we have the ability to carry entire music libraries around with us in something no bigger than a cellphone and stay constantly plugged in? Is most western music any less valid than say the music of many indigenous cultures whose music has specific purpose?

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Sturgell says:

I see it like this, Art/Music is simply a trade.

What the "Tribal Mask Maker" and Warhol have is common is that they are reflecting what their society asks of them.

Tear it down or build it up, it's as if your labeling the seasons. Society will place labels and facets on what is expression, but the essence is timeless.

Also

Tony Blair used the Sham 69 song, "If the Kids are United".

cheers

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete